And while I am not a meteorologist, I will be your weatherman for the next few minutes with snow and rain in the forecast on CNN 10. 3

Welcome to everyone watching around the world. 4

If you're viewing this show from the Eastern United States, you already know what we're starting with. 5

Arctic Air has blown in and shattered records all over the country, meteorologists say. 6

Roughly 70% of the U. 7

S population around 240 million people woke up to sub freezing temperatures on Wednesday morning from the Great Plains to the Midwest to the Eastern Seaboard and the American South. 8

The Weather Channel says more than 300 records have been set for cold temperatures this week. 9

They range from below zero measurements in Nebraska and Iowa to single digit temperatures and parts of Texas, North Carolina and Vermont. 10

It's not that it's never been this cold before in these places. 11

It's that sense. 12

Record keeping began in the 18 hundreds. 13

Scientists say. 14

It's never been this cold this early in the season. 15

We're still 37 days from the official start of winter. 16

Hundreds of flights headed into and out of Chicago were canceled because of dangerous conditions. 17

Snow has been in the forecast from Colorado to Maine, and while things were supposed to warm up a bit as the week goes on, forecasters say temperatures will still be 10 to 20 degrees below average. 18

The National Weather Service compared this Arctic blast to an event from 1911 called the Great Blue Norther. 19

That cold front also hit in November, and it caused incredible drops in the temperature, with places like Oklahoma City plunging from 83 degrees in the afternoon to 17 degrees that night. 20

On Tuesday morning, 108 years later, it was 16 degrees in Oklahoma City. 21

Meanwhile, in the storied Italian city of Venice, it's a high tide that's being blamed for unusually high amounts of flooding. 22

And there's rain in the forecast at least 45% of the city and some observers say as much as 80% of it was flooded. 23

On Tuesday, the tide turned Venice's lowest point ST Mark's Square into what looks like a swimming pool. 24

Venice is built on a lagoon. 25

It's no stranger to flooding. 26

Tides that cause water rises like this are known as aqua alta in Italian and they usually occur in winter time. 27

But the one that washed in on Tuesday night was more than 73 inches high. 28

That's over six feet, and it caused the worst flooding the city has seen since 1966 when a tide of more than 76 inches was recorded. 29

Local officials have asked for a state of emergency to be declared. 30

Venice's mayor called the tide a wound that would leave a permanent mark in the city. 31

He says the damage would cost hundreds of millions of euros, and officials say the weather doesn't look like it's gonna help it all. 32

More rain and strong winds are expected over the next few days, setting the scene for another possible high tide. 33

Second Trivia, which U. 34

S founding father warned Americans about the danger of political parties in the state. 35

Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson or George Washington. 36

In his farewell address, a 32 page handwritten document, George Washington cautioned Americans about political parties. 37

Why do Americans seem so politically divided? 38

The reasons have a lot to do with the decisions we make in our personal lives. 39

Your race and level of education are often a factor in how you vote. 40

But today, where you live is also a good clue to where you might fall on the political spectrum. 41

Journalist Bill Bishop found that in the 1976 presidential election on Lee, 1/4 of US counties were landslide elections, which meant that one party one by a large margin as a 2016 that 25% has increased toe over 60%. 42

Political difference is now lifestyle. 43

If we don't talk to people that disagree with us, we get Maura assured of our thinking. 44

We see the world in only one way, and we become more extreme in the way we think. 45

Nearly 40% of Americans say they interact with people in a different political party just a few times a year, or even less the number of parents who would be unhappy if their child married someone of a different political party. 46

That number has exploded over the last several decades, from 4% in 1960 to 35% of Republicans and 45% of Democrats in 2018. 47

So it might not surprise you that today Democrats and Republicans don't agree on a single one of the top five issues, they say, our most important. 48

Just 10 years ago, both parties generally agreed on the three top issues. 49

The economy, jobs and terrorism. 50

20 years ago, they agreed on four out of five, so Democrats and Republicans have grown further parts. 51

At the end of the day, a two party system relies on sorting Americans into red or blue. 52

But the full picture of America is much more colorful. 53

For more than 10 years, CNN's been following an athlete named Kyle Maynard. 54

In middle school, he played football in high school. 55

He was a champion wrestler in his twenties, Maynard fought in mixed martial arts. 56

He's also a record setting weightlifter and an accomplished mountaineer. 57

The guy loves physical challenges. 58

And watching today's great big story, it's easy to understand why his philosophy and his best selling book are wrapped up in two words. 59

No excuses. 60

When I first started climbing, I was so bad I was so terrible, so slow and tear my skin up all the time. 61

It was like, How the heck are we gonna go in? 62

Do Mount Kilimanjaro? 63

Three words. 64

I don't know those three words. 65

Three of the most important words in my life. 66

All discoveries happen from I don't know. 67

My name is Kyle Maynard and I have an extremely hard time saying what it is exactly that I do. 68

I've been an athlete my entire life, football to wrestling, Thio, weightlifting and Brazilian jiu jitsu and now, most recently, taking on climbing some of the highest mountains in the world. 69

I was born with congenital amputation, so basically means my arms and that the elbows, my legs and it needs, you know, I think some people do. 70

They look at me and maybe even feel sorry for me, but really, truthfully, my life doesn't want a whole lot different than yours. 71

You know, I tied by my computer the same way you use my phone just like anybody else. 72

My first experience with climbing really anything of significance was in a cross the competition and tells intent. 73

The first workout was yet to 2000 meter Roman, this rowing machine in a sprint up Stone mountain. 74

Everybody else did it in maybe 25 minutes. 75

It took me an hour and 46 minutes at Tarawa, skin up on my arms, but I got to the top and I was like, Wow, this is breathtakingly beautiful. 76

And I told my friend that night I said, I want to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. 77

I don't know if I can. 78

I don't know if I can, but I do know that I want to try to figure it out. 79

I want to go and find a way and get up there. 80

There are a ton of challenges with getting into climbing, and the biggest one was the gear. 81

I literally started with Bath Towels Doc, taped to my arms in my feet that couldn't go to the store and buy a typical pair of shoes. 82

We had to come up with a unique solution. 83

Now to climb, I use a carbon fibre special custom shoe. 84

Use those to bear, crawl up Kilimanjaro. 85

Then me and my team. 86

We took on climbing Mount Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America. 87

I felt my body was like a full shot down node, and it was brutal at moments, but it was breathtakingly beautiful at the top of that mountain. 88

You know, you could almost kind of make out and see, like the curvature of the earth. 89

I mean, it was just a moment I'll never forget. 90

The reasons I climb aren't that different from other people. 91

You doing in a place that there's no way my culture could have brought me there? 92

That's what I love. 93

I'm not trying to live to be 1000 like I wanted. 94

I want to go out there and have my life means something gotten down and I've looked at the mountain and I see what we've achieved. 95

It's like, Wow, maybe that was a really bad idea that we were there, but it was beautiful. 96

Way started with weather. 97

We're ending with weather. 98

When we reported on the skybridge that opened in Tennessee this may, we told you how it was the longest pedestrian suspension bridge on the continent. 99

Another thing that makes it unique is the glass bottom that lets you see what's 140 feet under your feet. 100

That same view in the snow may not be quite as clear, but look at the winter wonderland all around it. 101

The folks who operate the skybridge say it'll be open whenever it's not slippery tow. 102

Walk on there, also calling it the snow bridge. 103

If heights are the height of your fear and the cold freezes your fancy of fun that might crystallize your determination to flake out on even an abridged visit and suspend any plans to step out when a bridge may ice in winter in favor of keeping your feet on frozen solid ground. 104

I'm Carla Zeus that spans another edition of CNN.